Eurofighter Nations Award $2.7B in Typhoon Support Contracts

Mar. 30, 2012 - 09:53AM
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LONDON — The four Eurofighter nations have awarded industry contracts worth about 2 billion euros ($2.7 billion) to support the Typhoon fighter over the next five years.

The deals will cover logistical and technical support, including mechanisms to continue development work for the combat jet operated by partner nations Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain, as well as export customers Austria and Saudi Arabia.

Britain’s BAE Systems and Italy’s Alenia Aermacchi both announced deals for their respective air forces.

BAE said it had signed a contract worth 535 million euros while Alenia said its deal was worth more than 500 million euros.

EADS Cassidian, which represents German and Spanish industrial interests in Eurofighter, has yet to declare the value of deals with their two national governments.

A spokesman for Eurofighter said the total value of the deal to industry was worth “in the region of 2 billion euros.”

Some of the activities covered by the contract are specifically for the air forces of the individual partner nations while other work will involve future development of Typhoon for all four air forces. Integration of new weapons, development of an active electronically scanned array radar and other upgrades are all earmarked for Typhoon.

Update plans for the fighter jet have been an issue in recent export contests, all of which the Typhoon has lost.

“The agreement demonstrates a commitment by all parties in achieving continued efficiencies on the program, long-term support for the sustainability of aircraft covering all three production tranches, and future enhancements and upgrades to the platform,” Eurofighter said in a statement.

In a statement, BAE said the contract will introduce efficiencies by bringing together a number of legacy contracts and proposed new work into an umbrella contract. The company said the move would help reach the target of cutting Typhoon support costs by 30 percent as well as sustain up to 600 engineering jobs in Britain.

A spokesman for BAE said that 134 million euros of the new umbrella contract was accounted for by the legacy deals.